Hmm, as we saw on July 6, it was Ranger Shaw and his partner who arrived to take care of the Grungey Boys. All Mark did was confront them (for good reason) and had a short knock-fest. They demonstrated either an unwillingness to use their weapons or an ineptitude in their application. In any event, the rangers took the Grungey Boys into custody and turned them over to the cops.

Shouldn’t Ranger Shaw be concerned about Mark taking the law into his own hands, especially as Mark boasts about his ethical confession in panel 4? Well, this has actually been Mark’s status for pretty much his entire comic strip existence, as it has been for most heroic personalities in our various media over the millennia. Throughout human history we have looked to heroes and avengers to settle the score and right the wrongs that we cannot, but wish we could. That belief makes for great books and movies.

But maybe I’m being too hard on Mark Trail. He could simply be indulging in a case of self-congratulations and boasting. That’s not too bad. Some people give to charities, others do volunteer work. And people like Mark just look for wrongs to right.